A piece of my heart

I can remember the first time we went to see dad and my new mom for our summer time visit at the new house in Castle Rock,  First thing you notice was the crushed red rock driveway that meandered up beside the house and curved behind the house where the cars were parked facing the small white pump shed that matched the white two story house, next to the pump shed was a grey brick foundation with a wood plank top that covered our hand dug well. So funny when you are a small child everything looked so big, i can still remember stepping into the back porch for the first time it seemed big even with a washer and dryer large chest freezer and double sinks.  Our porch had wood floors and a wainscoting type of ceiling, down at the end of the porch was a small window with a white frame around it which let in plenty of light and another larger one over the sink that looked into the kitchen. the window was next to a small door that led into a small country kitchen with the typical 1960's linoleum & turquoise cabinets, Our kitchen had a small arched door that led into what seemed a large living room with an old oil stove to keep us warm on cold winter nights and two large picture windows and a big front door. Behind the front door was this little built in counter top , a phone table that our old ivory rotary dial phone sat on. This big old house had 4 bedrooms (with no closets in bedrooms) one bathroom with a big ole tub and no shower for 7 people,  one big closet in the hall up stairs and one down stairs in the hall by the bath room , our parents did have a tiny one under the stairwell in their room........ well really more of a cubby hole. We had a very large front yard with a large Honey locus tree which stood close to the house and a set of three small Honey locus trees planted in a triangle just a further out. Between the driveway and the house we had a holly tree , lilac and three rhododendrons  on the opposite side of the house was a crab apple with the tastiest little red apples and a green Gage plumb tree.  When we first moved into the house the property was only partially fenced and that was just the field behind the house,  we didn't have a fence around the yard, our only fence was a hedge of giant wild yellow iris that us kids loved to play in.
The big field behind the house was filled with amazing,old growth timber, hazel nut trees, vine maples, dog woods, big leaf maples , native wild Salal plants in abundance with their white flowers
and edible blue berries.As we explored the land we discovered so many treasures, there were two station wagons that the wheels had been taken off of that we played in, we spent hours pretending to drive on great adventures (my sister pattie always insisting on driving ) lol ,  there was Pattie land a huge root wad from a tree that had fallen over years before its giant root snaking up into the sky perfect for making forts out of. Then there was the horse tree, this tree grew straight up for about four feet then went vertical for about three feet and then straight back up,  on the opposite side of the field was the polly wog pond and the orchard, oh how we loved our own personal play land. The memory of the scorched grass under my feet while running across the field, the beautiful white flowers of the dog woods, the giant maple leaves that fell to the ground in the fall along with all the hazelnuts that ripened that we would gather. Yes this place will always have a piece of my heart.

Tinkerbell

As long as i can remember i wanted to be a grandma, kind of funny as i had no plans to have children lol. Thankfully i changed my mind and had three children and two of the heart. My ex husband and i were kind of late starting a family for our generation we were 24 years old when our first child a beautiful boy arrived then 4 years later our princess followed by our golden baby boy.   As the years went by I watched as many of my siblings (all younger then me) became grandparents as did many of my friends. Then right before my 50th birthday i found out that i was going to be a grandma seriously talk about the most amazing gift in the world ! When Tink finally arrived the world became a more beautiful place a magical place, it is amazing how much joy one tiny human being can bring into a world.
 I watch as she runs through the house on her tippy toes her blonde hair bouncing, her bright beautiful eyes shining as she sings chase me chase me kissy monster to my love, their laughter is like music to my soul i cant help but smile as i watch that giant man of mine chase her always letting her escape so she can dash away to sing out to him again to chase her.
Each day when i come home from work i here NINA! and the fun begans, there is an unspoken ritual i get my work boots off and head for the shower, as i start to shower i will hear the shower door being quietly slid open as i turn  there she is a small nude tink slipping into the shower with me (dont know what its like to shower alone anymore lol) so now there are two heads to shampoo two wash rags with body soap and so on, with the arrival of tink even our bath room has changed there are toys in the tub, toys in the shower & the bath towels they have changed they now come with bunny ears & kitty cat ears. Then it is on to wrestling on our big bed while i attempt to catch glimpses of my TV shows all the while shrieks of laughter drown out the sound. Yes im in love with Tinkerbell she has changed our world for the better and has brought so much magic to our lives and i wouldnt change a thing.  

Music in me.

I love music, I have loved music every since i can remember. When i was young my mom would always have music on in the house and in the car when we went anywhere, i can remember just like it was yesterday dancing with her in the yard the record player in the house with speakers on the front porch all 7 of us kids dancing to the song dragging the line or mellow yellow around her. I can still feel the warmth of the dappled sun that burst through the leaves and the beautiful white flower's that smelled of pepper, oh the sun falling on us through the leaves of the locus trees felt amazing , I can see my mom as she tosses her head back laughing she was so beautiful with her shoulder length chestnut hair dancing off her shoulders as her long tan legs bouncing along as she showed us how to dance the pony, It is amazing the feeling of your bare feet dancing, bouncing on the grass the sun on your shoulders the laughter of your brother's and sisters echoing through the yard. 

Music was such a big part of our lives growing up  I can remember weekends with my dad and his group practicing in our living room, there was Daryle who played guitar and Cheryl who was beautiful inside and out she had such an amazing voice ................. music everywhere in our home. Then there was weekends where dad would get everything set up and we would all sing together, little church in the dale, d.i.v.o.r.c.e , bony maroni, song after song we would sing out of Dads big brown song book with our child voices,  except Becky oh my her voice was beautiful. 
It is funny how life brings things to come around in a full circle, many years have gone by and  my Daddy is gone and my mama is close to 70  and i am a bit older.................... 54 to be exact lol and i still do not have an ounce of musical talent in me, but here i am on my way to Portland with my daughter and grand daughter to pick up my sweet husband from the airport, we have Taylor Swift blasting from the radio all three of us singing together and it is magical. I am blessed. 

Cooking for one

I have wanted to try this for a long time so here we go, no one but me at this time lol.

I am sitting in the house alone as i haven't been well :-( so needless to say im not out on this beautiful day. It is time for diner and i was pondering what to have ( not big on cooking) usually if its just me its a hot dog or a sandwich as it seems weird to cook for 1,  you see  I grew up on a small family farm in Castle rock Washington with 6 of my 9 siblings both parents working to keep us clothed and fed so cooking often fell on  my younger sister Pattie and I.  Not like the cooking most people do now days but everything from scratch and most often raised or grown on the farm, everything from farm fresh eggs to wonderful jersey cow milk (yes there is a difference lol)   so you could say i have been cooking a while. When i was 19  i married and went on to have 3 birth children and two children of my heart, my husband at the time was lets just say a slightly picky eater so i was still cooking large portions but with less variety. Later on I was very involved in cooking at our church often for large crowed's and really just got burned out.  Now i find myself older children grown husband away at work and there is just me so often................ which brought me to this point and Epiphany as some would say........... I used to love to cook and i love amazing food, i am sick of fast food & packaged food and it has dawned on me one person is no less important then 100 to cook for so with that i think at the ripe middle age of 54 I am going to start cooking again.